We can imagine how you’d describe Bill, if you had known him back then: “A star.”

He was a business owner. Popular. Successful.

And a true patriot: he served in the U.S. Army National Guard for years.

But then came trouble. Even though he could find success, he couldn’t seem to hold onto it. Whatever enterprise he pursued, it would always go great at first, but then he would somehow ruin everything...​

Bill couldn’t figure out why he was chronically self-destructing. In frustration, he started drinking. Project after project collapsed. His résumé — once honorable — degenerated into an embarrassment. His reputation got so bad, he couldn’t find corporate work anywhere. He ended up turning to the only employment he could find: working as a day laborer.

Yet at 57, he couldn’t keep up with the younger guys. He needed more energy. Power bars didn’t cut it. Finally, Bill made a deadly mistake: he started ingesting meth. He was addicted in a flash — overwhelmingly addicted. It wasn’t long before he was such a mess, he couldn’t work at all... and soon he was evicted from his apartment.

It was the end.

“If this is all there is,” he said to himself, “I don’t want to be here anymore.”

But by God’s grace, Bill didn’t take his own life. Some small spark of hope flickered to life in his heart and he called out to a God he hardly even knew:

“I can’t do this anymore, I’m too old,” he cried. “I need help.”​

God in His mercy led Bill to Gospel Rescue Mission. And thanks to the generous support of caring friends like you, we were here for him. We welcomed him, gave him a place to sleep, clothes and meals — and we introduced him to the love of Jesus, the only power that could really change his life.

Bill isn’t the last one who will need us, though. Another desperate, downtrodden, downhearted soul will show up on our doorstep tomorrow.

Bill’s story is just one great example of how a life can change, even when things seem hopeless. He entered our recovery program and enrolled in our “Genesis” discipleship program. In the days that followed, he was amazed to finally discover what started his downhill slide in the first place: he witnessed a traumatic event involving his family that he had to keep a secret. This resulted in him living with fear and anxiety and, at times, physical abuse because of what he had witnessed.

Bill had grown up as a prisoner of fear. His instinctive response was to push himself to succeed in business and find his identity there. So when success eluded him, Bill self-destructed.

This breakthrough insight set him on the road to a whole new life.

Here at the Mission, Bill discovered that God never intended him to find his identity in status as a business owner, or in financial success. God designed him to find his identity in Jesus Christ, as a reflection of God’s love.​

​“I am not the same person I was when I came in here,” Bill says with a tremendous smile. “The core classes have helped me surrender my life to Christ — to truly live by what that means.”

Bill has graduated from our recovery program — and he’s training to become a recovery support specialist with the National Association of Mental Illness.

“It’s all God,” Bill says. “I couldn’t do any of this without Him.”

And God, in His grace, has chosen to work through you and me, allowing us to serve here as the hands and feet to His foundation of Love.

Please partner with us today to help us continue in this work, provide emergency shelter — and more — for someone like Bill, someone in dire need, by giving generously today. Thank you in advance! God bless you.